Spirited Away: A New Face
by Eissalande
Summary: On a class field trip to Japan, a class comes upon a tunnel that leads to a place that looks like an old run-down theme park. Follow Melissa, a student that is part of the class, as she starts an adventure in the Spirit World with a few friends and tries
1. The Tunnel

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away.**

Brief summary: This story follows a class on a feild trip to Japan. They come upon the tunnel and decide to enter. What will happen next? Read and you will find out!

Author's note: The first part of the chapter basically introduces you to the class and the main female character in our story.

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Chapter 1: The Tunnel

Melissa opened her eyes to the sound of an annoying noise. She lifted her head and noticed her cell phone dancing on the nightstand next to her. She groaned as she reached out to get it. She was still half-asleep and wished that she fully sleeping, but had to answer the phone or else annoy the person she was sharing her room with.

However, Kacey, her friend also heard the annoying sound and mumbled something about turning it off. Melissa grinned and answered the phone in a sleepy tone, "Hello?"

"Melissa?"

Melissa opened her eyes. She was now fully awake. "Mom!"

"Melissa, are you okay? You sound different? Is something going on?"

"No, no. Everything's okay," Melissa said as she slid out of bed, walking towards the bathroom.

"Okay. Well, I called because you didn't talk to Hilton last time and he now wants to talk to you."

"Mmm…okay," Melissa said in a tired tone.

"Okay, but before I let him talk… How's the trip?"

"Fine. It's going great. Really fun," Melissa wanted to add that her mom had just woken her up, but decided against it. She remembered that she had just gotten there two days ago so her mom had probably forgotten about the time zone difference.Melissa just figured that it was probably better to just let the conversation stay short.

"Well that's good. Okay…here's Hilton."

"Okay," Melissa said with a sigh. She heard her mom calling for her brother and was barely able to hear the soft footsteps that belonged to her younger brother.

"Melissa?" a little voice on the other line said.

"Hilton! How are you?" her voice changed as soon as her little four-year-old brother came to the phone.

"Good," there was a pause as if someone was trying to tell him something and then, "We miss you."

"I know and I miss you too," she said in reply. She couldn't help, but get the feeling that there was someone next to Hilton, telling him waht to say.

"Okay," Hilton said in reply. He seemed to not care about what she had just told him.There was another pause as if someone was telling him something.

"Bye," Hilton then said and hung-up.

Melissa sighed as she put her phone on the counter in the bathroom. She glanced at the clock in the bathroom and it read 7:05. Melissa widened her eyes. She and Kacey had only 25 minutes to get ready before breakfast. She ran outside of the bathroom and said, "Kacey, get up! We have only 25 minutes left before we have to get down for breakfast!"

"What?" Kacey shouted, sitting bolt up on the bed.

"25 minutes! Hurry up!"

Kacey and Melissa ran out of the elevator with only 2 minutes left before breakfast. They arrived just in time to see the rest of their class standing outside of the breakfast area. Melissa was on a class field trip with her friends Kacey and Cadie. They were in Japan to study the country on the inside instead of in a textbook. It was also a summer vacation trip and the trip seemed to be more like a vacation than an educational trip. Today, they were going to a local neighborhood because a local friend of one of the teachers was going to be there. They were to meet up at the neighborhood for a special tour of places that the normal tour guide wouldn't take a tourist to see.

Melissa noticed Cadie waving to both her and Kacey. She beckoned Kacey to come with her to see Cadie. Kacey nodded and they walked over to Cadie.

"Hey," Cadie said, happy to see her friends again.

"Hi," Melissa said in a tired voice.

"Hey!" Kacey said, not sounding as tired as Melissa sounded.

"Had a good sleep in?" Cadie joked after noticing that they were late.

"I guess," Melissa said.

"But thanks to Mel's mom, we woke up with 25 minutes left to get down here," said Kacey.

"Yea," Melissa nodded in agreement.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm hungry," Cadie said walking into the breakfast area.

"Same here," Kacey said walking over to the buffet and handing Melissa and Cadie plates before she handed herself one.

Finally, everyone in the class was in the bus and on their way to meet their teacher's friend. Melissa was having a fun conversation with both Kasey and Cadie. They were looking at past pictures that they had taken so far in Japan and laughing at stories they had about each one of the pictures or about things. Suddenly, the bus hit something and started to swerve out of control. Some of the others girls in their class started to scream and Melissa felt like she was about to join them too. Finally, the bus came to a complete stop causing Melissa to hit her head on the window.

"Is everyone okay?" on of their teachers shouted, standing up to take a look at everyone in the class. Low mumbles stated that everyone was okay.

People started to get out of the bus talk between themselves about what just happened. Melissa followed Kasey and Cadie out of the bus, rubbing her head from when she had hit it on the window. When she got out, Melissa looked around the area. She noticed a small monkey-like statue on the ground in front of a tunnel. Her eyes lingered on the tunnel for bit before she moved them to where everyone was crowded.

Melissa heard the bus driver speak in Japanese and a teacher talking back to him in Japanese as well. From what she could see, their bus had a flat tire and she figured out that they didn't have a spare. She looked around to see one of her classmates, Dean, walk over to the monkey statue.

Melissa left everyone and went to where he was. As she walked closer to him, she felt the wind pick-up. "Hey," she said as she stopped next to him.

"Hey," Dean said lifting his head up to see who it was. "Is it just me or does this place seem familiar?"

Melissa looked at the statue and the tunnel. "I don't know," she said in reply, but started to feel as if she had recognized this place from some other time.

"Hmm…It kind of reminds me of that movie. What was it called? With that old guy with six arms and that old woman with the big nose?"

"Spirited Away," Melissa said immeadiately. It was one of her favorite movies so she would definitely know what that movie was.

"That's it! This tunnel reminds me of Spirited Away!"

"Now that I think about it," Melissa said, taking another look at the tunnel, "It does look like that tunnel that Chihiro walks through with her parents to get to the Spirit World."

"Oh good. So it isn't just me whose reminded of that movie," Dean said with a sigh of relief.

"What movie?" Josh asked, walking up behind them.

"Spirited Away," Melissa said, looking behind him to see Cadie walking up too.

"Good movie," Josh said, nodding his head.

"It looks like we'll be here for quite awhile," Cadie said in a sad voice.

"Bummer," Josh said. "I wonder if we could go exploring, you know, through the tunnel?"

"We could ask," said Dean, turning to Josh.

"Yeah!" Josh exclaimed heading back toward the rest of the class with Cadie following him.

"Come on," Dean said to Melissa, taking a few steps towards the group.

"I'm coming," she said, after taking another look at the tunnel. Melissa had a weird feeling about that tunnel, like as if she had been there before. However, she knew she hadn't because she had never been to Japan before, but there was just something about it. Melissa thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Josh's voice asking if they could go through the tunnel. Their teacher, Mrs. Karvel, had a look as if she didn't approve the idea, but was thinking it over. Finally, Mrs. Karvel said, "I don't see _why_ you would _want_ to go, but I suppose we could."

Mrs. Karvel looked at the other teachers, Mr. Jameson and Mrs. Renton, to see what they thought. Mr. Jameson nodded, but said, "I'll stay here and call you all when the bus comes here."

Mrs. Renton said, "I'll go with you."

Mrs. Karvel nodded and said to the students, "Anyone who wishes to go through the tunnel can come and those who want to stay can stay with Mr. Jameson."

Melissa turned to Kacey and Cadie. "Are you guys coming?" she asked them.

Cadie shook her head, "No, I'd rather not."

"I agree with Cadie," Kacey said. "I don't want to go either."

"We'll just hang here with Danyel and Trent," Cadie said.

Melissa sighed. She really wanted at least one of them to come with her. "Okay," she said. "I'll go and see what's on the other side."

Danyel and Trent came to where they were standing. "Are any of you going?" Danyel asked.

"I am," Melissa replied.

"Okay. Well, tell me what it's like okay?" Danyel said.

"Sure."

"Neat."

"See you guys then," Melissa said and heard "byes" from all of them. She started walking towards the group that was heading towards the tunnel. Melissa noticed that Matt was staying and grinned to herself because Matt and Kacey were going out so obviously he would stay with her. She walked faster to catch up with the group and started to walk next to Dean and Josh.

"It sure is dark in here," Melissa heard Adam, another classmate, say.

"Tell me about it," Adam's friend Jason said.

Melissa had to agree with them. It was really dark in the tunnel. At last, the tunnel started to get lighter and they found themselves in what looked like a waiting room at a train station.

"Oooo…. Pretty," Melissa heard Sally say. Again, she had to agree with her other classmates. This room was nice. Some stained glass windows gave off a colorful light onto the place where the light touched. Melissa was enchanted by the room itself and wanted to stay there for a bit to take in the beauty it gave off. However, they had to move on.

When they were out of the room, they came to an open plain. Melissa could hear a few gasps at the serene scenery. She too was amazed by how beautiful, yet simple, this plain was. She slowly followed her classmates over the slim covered rocks and up the hill.

"Do you smell that?" Adam asked, sniffing the air.

"It smells like food," Mrs. Renton said. She turned around to face the students and shouted, "Is anybody hungry?"

"Yes!" almost everybody shouted.

The class started to quickly walked towards where the smell of food was. When they arrived at the place where the food was, they was hundreds of different dishes that were warm and ready to eat. Some of the class had already seated themselves to the bar which held all the food. Mrs. Karvel was calling into the shop in order to find out if anyone was there. She shrugged and looked at the other teacher. "Maybe it's one of those places where you eat and then pay," she said. Mrs. Renton agreed and sat down next to her fellow teacher and started to grab food to put on her plate.

Melissa wouldn't sit down. She didn't like the idea of taking food from a place where you couldn't see who was supplying the food. She started to walk backwards and hit someone behind her. "Oops!" she said as she turned around. "I'm so sorry." She realized that she had backed up into Dean.

Dean didn't say anything, but glared at their fellow students who had seated themselves on the bar. "This isn't right," he muttered, loud enough for Melissa to hear, but no louder than that.

"I agree," she said, nodding her head in agreement.

He looked at her and his expression softened. "Do you…want to go somewhere else while waiting for them to finish?"

Melissa grinned and said, "Sure."

Dean started to walk away and was closely followed by Melissa. They went through the streets of the town and past all the buildings. They finally came onto a bridge where they stopped. Melissa walked over to the edge of the bridge and looked down. A train that was underwater passed through and into a tunnel. Melissa blinked a few times. 'A train?' she thought to herself, 'Underwater? Weird.' She felt a light tap on her shoulder and looked around to find herself face to face with Dean. She hadn't noticed what Dean looked like before, but now she was taking in all features. His grey eyes, brown hair, his lightly tanned skin. All of it seemed new to her, but it shouldn't have been. Melissa had known Dean since the fifth grade when he had moved from wherever he lived.

Dean grinned as he looked into her eyes, her deep green eyes. He moved his face closer to hers, closing the gap that rested between both of their faces. Melissa started to lift her head closer to his, feeling his breath wash over her face. Her eyes started to slowly close as the gap started to lessen. Their faces were only millimeters apart now. Suddenly, they both heard a squawk from overhead. Melissa looked up to see a bird overhead land on the edge of a balcony connected to what looked like a bath house. The panic she felt over her body lessened at the sight of the bird. After all, it _was _just a bird.

She turned back to Dean who said, "We should probably get back."

She nodded reluctantly and went with him down the bridge and down to where their class was. Melissa started to wish that the bird hadn't squawked. If it had only waited a few more seconds, then it might have been okay. She suddenly widened her eyes. Did she just think that? Did she really want to…kiss Dean?

Dean turned to look at her. He noticed that her eyes were wide. "Is something wrong?" he asked with a hint of a worried tone in his voice.

"What? No. It's nothing," Melissa said in reply.

Dean shrugged and continued walking with her back to the class. When they got there, Melissa let out a gasp of what she saw.

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Yes! The first chapter is complete! Didn't realize how long it was...oh well. Please reveiw! 


	2. So Similar

**Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away**

Yes! My writer's block is gone! I have finally written the next chapter to this story! A special thank you to the person who had reviewed this story. The review meant so much( I really mean it)! Please read, enjoy, and review.

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Chapter 2: So Similar

Melissa slowly walked backwards as her eyes widened at the sight before her. Her classmates didn't look like classmates anymore. Her teachers didn't look like teachers either. Their backs weren't the normal skin color they had been. They all look so much fatter then they had been before. Melissa couldn't say or do anything. All she did was stand there and look at the new forms of the people she knew.

Dean ran up to the back of one pig. He was shaking it, or trying to considering that the pig was large and heavy. He was calling the pig Jason because he recognized the clothes that were on the pig and they were the exact same ones that Jason had worn that day. Dean backed up as the pig squealed and landed on the ground, being hit by an unknown figure. Dean ran over to Melissa and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the place where the exit was supposed to be. "We have to get out of here," he said to her as they started to run. Melissa said nothing, shocked at the sight she had just seen. She wanted to know what happened to her class and teachers. However, she make a single word come out of her mouth. The shock still hadn't worn out yet.

When they arrived, they landed in a large pool of water. The water spalshed on Melissa and she was finally brought back to her senses. "Water?" Dean shouted and tried to run out of the pool as fast as he could, pulling Melissa with him. He clearly hadn't noticed that somethin was bothering her. Instead, he was filled with the goal of getting the two of them out of there.

Melissa ran along with him and it helped that he dragged her or she would have already stopped. Suddenly, Dean let go and Melissa fell to the ground, shouting his name. Dean turned around at the sound of his name and looked shocked. He hadn't let go of her. Nevertheless, he ran over to her and tried to pick her up. However, his hands kept going right through her. Melissa got up and went right through Dean, who had been crouching down on top of her. She hadn't felt his useless efforts when he tried to pick her up. What surprised Melissa the most was that she wasn't tired. She turned to Dean and saw as he tried to put his hand on her face. However, he went right through her to the other side of her face. If it was possible, Dean eyes widened even more. "Melissa? What's going on?" he asked her.

Melissa lifted a hand and tried to touch his face. "I don't know," she said in reply as her hand went right through to the other side of his face.

"Here eat these," a voice said from behind Melissa. Melissa turned to see nobody there. She looked around and saw a plate with two red pills on it. She turned to Dean who shrugged. "I guess we could eat them," he said.

"But what if its a trick?" she asked.

"But what if it will stop us from disappearing?"

"I guess..."

"It's worth a try."

"Yea..."

"Here," Dean said and picked up a pill from the plate. "I'll go first." He stuck the pill in his mouth and swallowed it. He touched his hand and his other hand didn't go through. "It worked!" Dean bent down and took the next one. He handed it to Melissa. However, Melissa's hand went right through it. Her body was disappearing fast. "Open your mouth," he said and placed the pill into her mouth. Melissa swallowed. Dean held up his hand to let Melissa make sure that she was whole again. She touched Dean's hand. This time, her hand didn't go through his.

"We need to move quickly," the same voice said.

Both Melissa and Dean felt an odd force pull them and they submitted to the pull. They ran along through meat and fish houses, through an ice box, and to a fence that seperated them from the bridge they had been to before.

"Now I want you to hold your breath when we walk across the bridge."

By this time, Melissa and Dean couldn't help, but trust this voice that was telling them what to do. They turned to look at each other and then looked out at the bridge where strange creatures were walking across it. Dean opened the gate and held it for Melissa. He took her hand and started to walk towards the bridge. "Okay...ready..." Melissa could hear Dean muttered.

"Take a deep breath..." the voice said.

They took one.

"Hold it and don't let go until we cross the bridge."

They started to walk across the bridge, holding their breath. Dean suddenly had a thought strike him as they were crossing. He was reminded about that movie...what was it called again? He wanted to tell Melissa, but she was too occupied in holding her breath and he couldn't say anything unless he would take a breath. They were getting closer to the end. Could they last any longer? They were almost there. They were getting closer. Dean could see the end of the bridge. He would finally be able to breath as soon as they finished crossing the bridge. Dean could feel the strength of Melissa's grip lessen. She was getting tired. He wanted to tell her that they were almost there. He wanted to let her know that she wouldn't have to hold her breath anymore in just a couple of seconds. Her grip loosened more around his hand and he knew she had to take a breath, but they were told not to. Would she breathe? Could she hold it for just a bit more? They were almost there. Just a few more steps and they would be across.

"Master Haku! There are _humans_ in the bathhouse!"

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A cliffy! Yay! Okay, I am leaving it there for now and letting you think about about what probably just happened. This story seems to be going the same exact path as the movie did, but don't worry! I'll be sure to stray from what story of the original movie considering this takes place _after_ the movie took place. As you can see, I stuck in a familiar character...what other one's will I stick in? Please Reveiw.

P.S. I just realized that this chapter was much shorter than the last one...I'll try and make the next one longer, but no promises.


	3. A Helping Hand

Okay chapter number three is done! Yay! Please read, enjoy, and reveiw.

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Chapter 3: A Helping Hand

Dean fell down on his knees, panting. He was holding Melissa in his arms. He looked down at her and gently placed her on the ground. "What are we going to do Melissa?" he muttered under his breath. "What are we going to do?"

"You can start by telling me _why_ exactly you are here," a male voice said from behind him. Dean turned around to see a man with green eyes and straight brown hair. The man walked over to them and looked down at the unconscious Melissa. He looked back at Dean.

"Who are you?" Dean asked, not bothering to answer the question the man had said.

"It doesn't matter right now. What are you doing here?" the man asked again.

Dean gave up. There was no way on getting his question answered and this guy kept asking the same thing. "We came here with our class on a field trip."

"Your class?" the man asked.

"Yea, but they turned into...err...pigs."

"I see. Do you know if it was all of your class that had turned into pigs?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't know." He looked down at Melissa. "I was with her and when we saw what happened, we didn't spend time trying to see who was there and who wasn't...we just ran for it." He looked at the strange man. He noticed a type of concern on this man's face. He also couldn't help but that think that this man wasn't actually human. It was just a feeling Dean had being around this person. Dean sighed and said, "Look, sir, can you please help me? I'm not sure what to do right now and I don't know much about helping those who pass out because they were told to hold their breath for a very long period of time."

The man looked at him. "Okay," he said. "Give the girl to me and I'll see what I can do for her."

Dean looked at him suspiciously thinking of what some strange men would do to girls back home.

The man noticed that Dean wasn't going to hand Melissa to him and said, "Don't worry. I'm going to take to a friend of mine who will take care of her and when she's awake, I will make sure that you know and will be able to see her. You have my word."

Dean lifted her up from the ground and stood up. He walked over to the man who was waiting with his arms out to carry her. Dean gently placed Melissa in the man's arms and asked, "So what am I supposed to do? You know, while you're taking care of her and all."

The man looked at him and turned his head to a small door nearby. "Go through there," he said, "and walk down the stairs and go through the boiler room. There you will meet a man by the name of Kimagi(?). You will ask him for a job. He will try and turn you down, but you must persist. Do you understand?"

Dean nodded and looked over at Melissa. She had clearly passed out and might not come around for a while. The man noticed this and said, "Do'nt worry, My friend will take goo dcare of her. You have my word."

Dean nodded and said, "Thank you, sir."

He watched as the man opened a door into the bath house and shut it behind him to allow Dean to stay hidden from the creatures that lived in the bath house. Dean stood there for a moment, trying to calm himself down. He looked at the closed door and then at the small one that he was told to go through. Normally, he wouldn't listen to strangers. However, he couldn't help but trust this man. He walked over to the door and pushed it open and went trough it, closing the door behind him. He turned around and saw the steep staircase that he had to descend. His eyes widened at the sight. He took a step and just started to walk down them normally, until he hit a step that broke in half. "Whoa!" he gasped and slid down some of the steps, landing on a step with his bottom. He gave a sigh of relief that he hadn't fallen off the steep and narrow staircase.

He got up, using his hands. Once he was able to stand again, he looked at his hands and saw that they were now scraped up pretty badly. The reason was because he had used his hands to try and prevent him from sliding anymore on the step. He started to walk down the stairs, more cautiously in case he would hit another step that would break in half. Step by step he descended the stairs, but the bottom didn't seem to be getting any nearer. It was uncomforatbly quiet and this didn't suit Dean at all. Suddenly the step that he had just laid a foot on broke in half and he slid down again, using his hands and feet to try and stop himself from falling. The stairs were making a turn, but Dean couldn't stop himself from sliding. He quickly started to use his hands to hold onto the stairs to prevent him from falling the great height that he knew he would fall into, if he were to fall. His right hand started to hurt a lot, but he didn't have time to look at it and was finally able to grab onto a step. However, it was the last step before the stairs made its turn so Dean slid off of the staircase entirely.

His hand held onto the step, hoping that the step wouldn't break and cause him to fall to his death. His left hand was throbbing as well, but he still threw it up to where his right hand was and grabbed onto the step. He was going to try and hoist him self up with what little room he had. He had to try it. He risked moving a hand on the step a little further away to give him more room to hoist himself up. He heard some thumping, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from. Suddenly he felt as if something grabbed onto his hand and looked up to see a familiar face grabbing onto his hands and helping him up. He grinned and started to shuffle on top of this stairs.

Dean groaned when he finally got on top of the steps and looked over to see Josh looking at him with a bit of concern on his face. "You okay?" Josh asked he stood up.

Dean nodded and stood up. He looked down and saw that his hand was red with splinters in them both. "Man, that had to hurt," Josh said, stating the obvious, but Dean wasn't in the mood to play around with his friend. He had to think about more important things, like getting a job and hoping Melissa was okay. However, his thoughts were broken from Josh speaking again, "So, uh, what are we going to do? I mean, the rest of our class turned into pigs and stuff."

"I was told to get a job from this guy in the boiler room. Maybe you could ask for one too."

"Yea. Maybe..."

"Well, let's go see this guy and ask for jobs, okay?"

Josh nodded and looked around. He followed Dean down the steps, noticing that Dean was being cautious while going down the steps. He guessed that it had to do with Dean's incident that just happened. He entered the door that Dean held open and started to feel really hot. Josh rolled up his sleeves on his short sleeve shirt in an attempt to cool himself down. He turned to see Dena was having the same trouble as well of dealing with the heat. It started to get hotter as they got closer and closer to where they needed to be.

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Okay, I ended it here. Why? Because writer's block prevented me from continuing to write this chapter. I am so sorry that it took a long time to complete, but I hope that it was worth the wait. I added a new survivor to the duo of Dean and Melissa, making it a trio. Why? Well, you'll see. Anway, please tell me what you think by reveiwing. Thank you and sorry it took so long. 

-Eissalande


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